Theme: Arctic

According to Reuters, in texts republished by The Straits Times and Al Arabiya, Greenland’s Parliament ratified on Tuesday the security agreement struck earlier this year with US President Donald Trump, by 16 votes in favor, none against and 7 abstentions. The deal expands the US military’s role on the island, paving the way for two new military bases and Trump’s “Golden Dome” missile defense system, while reaffirming Danish sovereignty and Greenlanders’ right to self-determination. The executive agreement will enter into force once Denmark and Greenland have ratified it; the Danish parliament is due to give it a first reading on November 11 and a final vote on November 19, and it does not require approval from the US Senate. During the debate, the opposition party Naleraq, the most prominent political voice for Greenland’s independence, questioned the deal’s economic value.

Greenlandic lawmakers voted 16-0 for the agreement, with seven abstentions, in Nuuk, on the deal between the island, Denmark and the United States to strengthen security in the Arctic and the North Atlantic. The trilateral deal paves the way for more U.S. bases in Greenland and eases tensions over Trump’s repeated calls for the island to become part of the United States, while keeping the self-governing island under Danish control. The U.S. State Department said the vote marks another major victory for American national security. Danish lawmakers are set to debate the text later this month, and the deal enters into force once the necessary parliamentary processes of the Kingdom of Denmark, in conjunction with Greenland, are completed. Greenlandic Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen said after the vote — “Greenland is our country” — and that cooperation must respect the people and rights of Greenlanders.

The Greenlandic parliament approved on Tuesday the security agreement with Denmark and the United States by 16 votes to none, with seven abstentions. Signed in September by Donald Trump, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Greenlandic Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, the text paves the way for two new US military bases and for the “Golden Dome” missile defense system, keeping the island under Danish control and reaffirming Greenlanders’ right to self-determination — according to a Reuters report republished by USA Today. The executive agreement enters into force once Denmark and Greenland ratify it and does not require approval from the US Senate; the Danish parliament gives the bill a first reading on November 11, with a vote on November 19. Naleraq opposition party chair Pele Broberg said Greenland is looking for a better agreement for when it becomes an independent state and that no economic benefit has been gained from the agreement.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said on Thursday (October 22) that Beijing opposes using a “Cold War mentality” to fuel conflicts in the Arctic, according to Opera Mundi. The statement came after the EU voiced concern over China-Russia cooperation in the region. “The Arctic affects the common interests of the international community. The right and freedom of countries to conduct activities in the Arctic, in accordance with the law, must be fully respected,” Mao said, in response to a question from RT. The spokeswoman also criticized the formation of geopolitical blocs in the region: “Dividing countries into blocs, with a Cold War mentality, and inciting geopolitical confrontations does not promote peace, stability or development in the Arctic region.” The 31st meeting between Chinese Premier Li Qiang and his Russian counterpart, Mikhail Mishustin, in St Petersburg, attended by President Vladimir Putin, reaffirmed the commitment to deepen the strategic partnership between the two countries.

China said on Thursday that its activities in the Arctic are aimed at promoting the region's peaceful, stable and sustainable development and are in accordance with international law, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said, according to The Cradle. Mao Ning also said that using Cold War mentality to create factions and incite geopolitical confrontation does not help the region's development. The remarks answered European Commission Vice President Kaja Kallas, who said the Arctic has become a front line of global power competition, and followed Brussels' presentation of a plan to expand Arctic surveillance and grow the European Union's icebreaker fleet.

The European Union (EU) presented on Tuesday a new Arctic strategy with monitoring and protection of undersea cables, a direct link between the bloc and Greenland and the expansion of an icebreaker fleet dwarfed by Russia’s, according to the Associated Press, in a text republished by the Los Angeles Times. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that when sovereignty, territorial integrity and the rules that have underpinned stability in the region can no longer be taken for granted, “we have to act and change our strategic posture”. Officials estimate Europe has around 10 icebreakers, most of them in Finland, against around 40 for Russia.

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said in an interview with The Times that the EU intends to counter Russia and China in the Arctic and seek unrestricted access to the Northern Sea Route, according to TASS. Kallas also confirmed that the European Commission will present its new Arctic strategy on Tuesday; the strategy was last updated in 2021.

The EU plans to launch an Arctic surveillance program in 2027 to improve regional ties and counter growing US and Russian ambitions, according to the bloc’s new Arctic strategy cited by Bloomberg and reported by TASS. The document is set for release next week, and the program is expected to use the Copernicus and Galileo satellite systems to detect Arctic threats across land and sea.

US President Donald Trump said “massive” oil, gas and mineral exploration is set to begin in Greenland early Wednesday, calling the territory “our new and beautiful Greenland”.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said that China stands ready to work with Russia to align maritime strategies and protect each other's legitimate maritime interests, according to the South China Morning Post, in a pledge to deepen maritime and Arctic logistics cooperation.

The United States will gain a base for anti-submarine operations near the GIUK gap, between Greenland, Iceland and the United Kingdom, under the September 22 agreement with Denmark and Greenland, Troy Bouffard, director of the Center for Arctic Security and Resilience, told Sputnik. The agreement includes Narsarsuaq as an air bridge and a base on the western edge of the gap and a smaller installation at Mestersvig, for radar and communications.

The United States, Denmark and Greenland signed on Tuesday, 22 September 2026, a security agreement that expands the US military presence on the island. The signing took place on the sidelines of the 81st United Nations General Assembly in New York, by Donald Trump, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Greenland Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen. According to Reuters, in a dispatch carried by The Jerusalem Post, the text authorises bases at Narsarsuaq in the south and Mestersvig in the east, expands the Pituffik base, which serves as a missile early-warning site, and lets US aircraft overfly, land and operate anywhere in Greenland, including its territorial waters and undersea space. No non-NATO country may keep a “persistent” military presence without unanimous approval by all three parties. The deal has no expiry date and amends the 1951 defence treaty. Trump said the agreement gives the United States “permanent control over security and all other needs” on the territory, and that no adversary will be allowed to establish a military presence there. Frederiksen said the text respects “the territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Denmark, as well as Greenland’s right to self-determination”, according to Al Jazeera, which quoted Nielsen saying “it is vital to keep NATO strong”. The deal ends months of standoff after Trump refused to rule out military or economic force to take the island, triggering a diplomatic crisis inside the alliance in January 2026. The US military presence in Greenland shrank from 17 installations and more than 10,000 personnel during the Cold War to about 200 at Pituffik.

The United States and Denmark signed on Tuesday, 22 September 2026, on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York, the security agreement for Greenland, and Donald Trump said Washington will build two “very major” military bases on the territory, according to The Guardian and USA Today. Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Greenlandic government leader Jens-Frederik Nielsen signed with Trump; Frederiksen said the text “respects the sovereignty and the territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Denmark” and Greenland’s right to self-determination. The deal expands the US military presence without transferring sovereignty, bars US adversaries from establishing bases or investing on the island without written approval, and has no end date, according to a State Department official cited by USA Today. Reuters reported that Washington plans to reopen the Narsarsuaq base in southern Greenland.

The United States plans to reopen a Cold War-era military base in southern Greenland and set up a military presence at Mestersvig, an east coast outpost now used by the Sirius Dog Sled Patrol, the Danish special forces unit that enforces sovereignty on the island, according to Reuters, which cites three people familiar with the talks. Both sites are part of the agreement the US, Denmark and Greenland sign on Tuesday at 10:30 a.m. ET on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, according to The Jerusalem Post, which cites a White House official. Narsarsuaq, home to the Bluie West One base that Washington closed in the 1950s, now has a few dozen residents. The text of the agreement has not been released and the details will only be settled at signature; the Danish and Greenlandic governments and the White House did not respond to requests for comment, according to Reuters. Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen told TV2 that Arctic security will not rest with Danes and Americans alone and that, to a large extent, NATO will look after the Arctic. During the Cold War the US kept 17 military installations and more than 10,000 personnel on the island; today only Pituffik Space Base remains, with about 150 troops.

The commander of the US Coast Guard’s Arctic District, Rear Admiral Bob Little, said in Oslo that Chinese ships sailed in maritime zones off Alaska, passed the Aleutian Islands, entered the Bering Strait and went as far north as the North Pole, according to Reuters; he was speaking at an Arctic security conference and said the United States is “actively responding to competitor activities across an increasingly contested Arctic”. In July, the Coast Guard said it monitored the research vessels Xue Long and Xue Long 2 as they crossed the US exclusive economic zone in the Bering Sea, with the cutter Munro running Operation Frontier Sentinel — the first time this year that Chinese vessels were tracked on that route. The Coast Guard says marine scientific research inside the US exclusive economic zone requires prior US permission.

The agreement on Greenland between the United States, Denmark and Greenland is set to be signed on Tuesday at the UN General Assembly, and Copenhagen says the text puts Arctic security under NATO, according to Reuters. Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen told TV2 that “to a large extent it would be NATO that looks after the Arctic”; the contents of the deal have not been made public and Donald Trump describes it as giving the US “permanent” control over the island’s security.

Ottawa announces permanent Northwest Passage patrol